Robert DarntonCarl H. Pforzheimer University Professorand Director of the University Library

Reading: Harvard Views of Readers, Readership, and Reading History is an online
exploration of the intellectual, cultural, and political history of reading
as reflected in the historical holdings of the Harvard Libraries. For Internet users
worldwide, Reading provides unparalleled digital access to a
significant selection of unique source materials:

commonplace books used by Joseph Conrad, Washington Irving, Victor Hugo, and more

records of the Harvard College Library that reveal the reading activities of Emerson, Longfellow, and Thoreau

historical textbooks that document the principles, and some of the biases, in reading instruction from the
18th to the early 20th centuries

more than 250,000 pages from 1,200 individual items from the Harvard collections, including 800 books and 400 manuscript selections

For researchers, teachers, and students who may not have ready access to extensive historical collections,
Reading provides an inspired opportunity to participate more fully in this rapidly expanding research area.